Mt Roskill Kāinga Ora housing project: home owner says delays led to flooding

An Auckland homeowner hopes building work begins soon on neighbouring land because she believes the delays are putting her property at risk of flooding.

Vicki O’Regan says her Mt Roskill home has flooded twice in two years since Kāinga Ora demolished a number of neighbouring state homes in 2021 and then left the land bare.

O’Regan has lived at the property for almost 40 years and said the gardens and guttering on the now-demolished homes used to soak up water flow, preventing flooding problems for her.

However, the Government housing agency says the flooding was caused by extreme weather rather than development works on the site.

Auckland's Vicki O'Regan believes the demolition of state houses led to her Mt Roskill home being flooded. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

It also recently sold the land to a private developer and hopes new housing can be built within two years, it said.

After years of slow progress, O’Regan is sceptical; however, claiming she also earlier warned developers and contractors to be careful because clearing the land could cause flooding.

“If it’s not done properly, I’m going to get flooded,” she says she told contractors ahead of what she claims was a flood on her property in July 2022.

Her concerns come as a number of Kāinga Ora housing projects are now in doubt.

Empty land near Vicki O'Regan's Mt Roskill house. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

New Housing Minister Chris Bishop has promised to shake the agency up after a review said it was facing a $700 million annual deficit.

In May, RNZ reported that plans to build nearly 1300 homes had been paused while the agency’s finances and plans were examined.

This month, the Herald also reported how Hawke’s Bay resident Michelle Courtney had been left without neighbours in Napier after nearby public houses were demolished before Kāinga Ora revealed the project had been put on hold and might even get scrapped.

In Mt Roskill, however, Kāinga Ora

recently sold the land to a private developer to build a mix of market and affordable homes, Mark Fraser, the agency’s general manager of Urban Development and Delivery, said.

“Unfortunately, the sites have taken longer to sell than originally intended due to current market conditions, and the challenges faced by those in the development sector, including rising construction costs and high interest rates,” he said.

O’Regan said the delays have cost her financially and exacerbated her health problems during a period when she battled lung cancer.

Mt Roskill's Vicki O'Regans worries the bare sections are bringing down the character of the area. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

A letter from her lawyer to Kāinga Ora claimed a stormwater pipe underneath the then-Kāinga Ora land had also failed three times.

One failure took place during last year’s Auckland Anniversary floods and forced O’Regan to make an insurance claim to replace her carpet among other damage, the letter claimed.

O’Regan said repairs after the Anniversary floods revealed mould in her walls that she believes dates back to the 2022 flooding.

That discovery was made while O’Regan was undergoing radiation treatment for lung cancer.

“It’s just been the most stressful time of my life,” she said.

Fraser said Kāinga Ora is aware of the “issues experienced” by O’Regan.

“However, it has been determined the flooding was the result of the extreme weather events Auckland experienced in July 2022 and January 2023,” he said.

“And we maintain our position that this was not a result of, or exacerbated by, our development works.”

Kāinga Ora says it has sold the Mt Roskill land and hopes the private developer will build new housing on it soon. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

He said that once Kāinga Ora learned of O’Regan’s issues, its civil construction partner LEAD Alliance “responded quickly to undertake drainage works, including installing a temporary pipe along the boundary of the neighbour’s property”.

“This is a temporary solution, intended to benefit the neighbour should Auckland experience another severe weather event,” he said.

“Permanent drainage works for the sites will be undertaken by the developer once construction begins.”

O’Regan says she’s praying the works start sooner rather than later, even worrying that should something go wrong with her health, then she or her children might have a tough time selling for a fair price while surrounded by empty lots or construction work.

“I used to have a really nice and tidy house, and I was proud of my home,” she said.

“My main concern is them getting on and doing the development so my house will become a home again.”